Oshkosh Students Advance to National History Day Competition in Washington D.C.

Fundraising campaign launched to help make the opportunity a reality

Oshkosh Area School District students recently excelled at the state-level National History Day Competition, and three students from Webster Stanley Middle School earned a trip to the national competition, which will be held June 10-14 at the University of Maryland. In order to make the trip a reality for these talented students, a GoFundMe account has been created. For more information and to make a donation, visit www.gofundme.com/nationals-oasd-team.

National History Day is a year-long program that turns students into historians as they explore local, state, national, and world history. Each year, more than half a million students participate, nationwide. After selecting a topic that relates to an annual theme, students conduct extensive research by using libraries, archives, museums, and oral history interviews. This year’s theme was Conflict and Compromise in History. The program culminates in three levels of competitions – regional, state, national – in which students showcase their rich knowledge of history and present their work to a panel of judges.

Oshkosh students completed months of research, analyzed and interpreted their sources, and arrived at conclusions in order to develop a well-thought-out thesis and create a product to showcase their findings. Students could choose the type of product they developed, including research papers, websites, exhibits, performances, and documentaries. The Webster Stanley team headed to nationals this year, created a dramatic performance titled “The Jefferson-Hamilton Feud: A Compromise that Changed a Nation”. The team is comprised of eighth-grade students, Avery Doemel, Isaac Geffers, and Elise Liske.

This past year, Webster Stanley Middle School sent 19 students to regionals, which took place at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Of those students, four qualified for state in Madison this past April, three of whom then advanced to Nationals. At the state-level competition, each category has approximately 25 of the best projects from across the state competing against each other and only two projects move on to Nationals. This will be Webster Stanley’s third trip to Nationals – while in its fifth year of participating in the program.

The Oshkosh Area School District has participated in the National History Day program, at the regional, state, and national level, for many years – providing students with a unique and challenging opportunity to learn and develop. Numerous schools within the district, including Oshkosh North and Carl Traeger, Merrill and Webster Stanley Middle Schools, participate in the program each year. This year, Oshkosh students began working on their projects in September and those that chose to compete put in over 60 hours of research and work. The Oshkosh Area School District congratulates all of this year’s participants and wishes the best of luck to those competing on the national stage!

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The Oshkosh Independent is Oshkosh's locally owned independent news source, providing coverage of local news, events, music, art, business, religion, and more. Launched February 2015, Oshkosh Independent is a local-based media outlet comprised of contributors from throughout the Oshkosh community.

The Oshkosh Independent donates 5% of all profits to local non-profits, while serving as lead organizer of the Oshkosh Music Artist Series, a program that raises funds to support local musicians and local music education.